Diabetes Sucks!...and other happy thoughts...

Wow! I can't beleive it's been so long since I wrote anything here! I'm really going to have to get better at keeping up with things!
Let me try to catch you up:

I've been battling a few health problems over the last several months...
I started having 'spells' from low blood-sugars. At one point, I was having low blood sugar AND low blood pressure PLUS kidney stones (for the 2nd time within a year!)....all at the same time! *lol* (yeah, I can laugh NOW...but I sure wasn't laughing during the culvusions!) Turns out my kidney stones were caused my eating too much dark green, leafy vegetables. Go figure! *lol*

For those of you who don't know, I'm a diabetic. My blood sugars are either too high or too low...I just can't win! And if I get sick with ANYTHING else, it effects my blood sugars and makes me seriously ill.

Blood-sugar meter on left, Pump on right.

They started me on an insulin pump that I have to wear 24/7 and only take off for showers. A tube from the pump connects to me and pumps the insulin I need into my body. I have to change the tubing and re-fill my pump every 3 days. In this picture, the blood glucose monitor is on the left & the pump's on the right. When I test my blood with the monitor, it sends the results to the pump, and the pump does the math and gives me the insulin it thinks I need.
It's not as bad as I thought it would be, and when used correctly (as in, remembering the pump is smarter than I am and letting it do what IT wants to do! Ü), it really does wonders for keeping my blood sugars under control. I still have a hard time when I catch another bug, tho. Over the winter I've gained some weight, (which is a side effect to using insulin), so at this point they're starting me on Symlin, which is suppose to control the hunger effects I get from the insulin. Like everything else in life, it goes in circles. (The circle of life, of course!) I take insulin when I eat to control my blood sugars, which in turn makes me hungry so I'll eat something and take more insulin to cover that....which again makes me hungry....and so on and so on. The Symlin is suppose to cut out the hunger part. I'm just on a low dose right now. They're gradually working me up to where I should be. To adjust the Symlin, we have to adjust the amount of insulin I'm getting at the same time, so it takes a little while to get it all mastered. (One thing effects the other, ya know!) Then when I get sick, (even just a touch of something from all the cooties I pick up during the winter...and I've picked 'em up several times this past winter!), that screws up my blood sugars and won't let my insulin work the way it needs to, so I've also been fighting that battle. Sheesh. Good thing I've got excellent doctors now!!

When I'm not battling my health demons or at work, I've been trying to get things done inside the home. I'm a bit of an organizing nut and I like everything in its place and properly labeled so it's easy to find if it's put away somewhere, so I wanted to try to get everything inside the home just the way I want it during the winter months, so when spring gets here I can spend most of my free time outside in the gardens. And you know how I love to garden!! Ü

Here's what the insides of my kitchen cabinets look like, some minus a few supplies:

This one's a lot emptier than usual:

It took me most of this winter to get everything done, and besides washing windows...I think I may be finished! I still have my craft room in the basement to clean out, but I'll need a dumpster for that!...so that project HAS to wait til it's warmer outside. I plan to get rid of most of my crafting stuff, and just keep the things I'll need to use when I re-decorate a room or furniture or make something useful for the home. I'm not going to do regular crafts anymore, so I won't be needing that kind of stuff. And don't worry, what can be donated or recycled WILL BE. Ü

I re-stocked my basement pantry, re-organized all my kitchen cupboards, sorted thru & organized closets (need to do my bedroom closet again, tho!), painted my kitchen, livingroom, dining room furniture, re-decorated a couple walls, you name it! I'm not real happy with the way the color turned out in my kitchen, but I only did two walls in that color, so I'm going to live with it for awhile until I get another urge to re-do that.

My little Kitchen Hutch re-painted:

Living Room I painted, then hand-painted saying on it & added photos:

Bedroom walls didn't get re-painted, I just hand-painted this saying above bed:

My hubby is putting up cedar on the walls of my fitness room in the basement right now, and it's looking beautiful so far! I'll post a pic of it when he's finished.
As far as my job goes, I'm still working at the group home and loving it! It's a challenge sometimes, but it's a very satisfying job.
Money is a little tighter than I'd like, (as it is for everyone right now), but we're hanging in there! I've been working hard on controlling my spending, and for the most part I'm doing pretty good. We both still have our jobs, so we're thankful for that!
All in all, life is pretty good in my neck of the woods. I really can't complain about anything and I have a lot to be thankful for.
Now to start planning those gardens!!!.....